Sunlight, Firelight, Starlight
by adjit
Summary: Adrien knows that there will be consequences to this action and Adrien knows this is probably a bad idea but Adrien is not here on this rooftop, Chat is, and Chat is tired of staring up at the girl who hung the moon and wishing, and every fiber of his being is telling him to leave that behind and take the chance. So he does.
1. Chapter 1

He doesn't know how he ended up here. He knows that he quietly snapped, transformed and ran away (and ran and ran and ran until it was night and he couldn't see where he was going.) But he doesn't know how he ended up on the roof of his classmate's house, a classmate that he barely knows. (He had thought he understood her well enough, as Adrien, but then he saw her as Chat and he realized there was more than Adrien would ever be allowed to know, for some reason.)

He turns to go, but he's stopped as a noise behind him and a quiet exclamation pulls his attention. He turns to see Marinette, in a too-big sweater and clutching a mug to her chest and staring at him in alarm. Adrien wants to run again, Adrien wants to hide and stop this encounter from ever happening, but when Marinette whispers "Chat…?" he can't stop himself from grinning and bowing slightly.

"Hello there princess," he responds cheekily, locking Adrien away and allowing Chat to have control.

"Is there a problem?" She looks around, panicked, searching for a nonexistent danger and he can't help but chuckle.

"Can't a man visit a beautiful lady in the middle of the night without there being an emergency situation?"

Marinette begins to roll her eyes, seems to catch herself, and stops, staring off to the side. When she speaks, it's almost too quiet for him to hear. He thinks maybe he isn't supposed to hear it. "You have no reason to visit me unless…"

"Unless?" he can't help but ask, after a few moments of silence. Her head snaps forwards again, as if she had forgotten he was there. She shakes her head, dismissing the question.

"What's going on here?" she asks warily, finally emerging fully onto the rooftop. She approaches him, his silence not a good enough answer for her. But he has no answer, because he doesn't even know himself. She looks at him for several long seconds, coming to a stop beside him maybe a little too close as she stares at him with a furrowed brow. She seems to spot something, and the furrow of her brow deepens for a moment before she makes a decision. She tilts her head, blinks up at him, and asks quietly "Chat, is everything okay?"

He looks down at her worried face, and realizes exactly why he ended up on her roof. Because he knew from quietly watching her that Marinette would look at him with genuine concern and offer her help even if she had never met him before. That she would care even if he was only a stranger in a mask to her.

So he takes a chance, and quietly shakes his head. He doesn't say it out loud (he can't say it out loud, then it's too real and he won't be able to keep running) and she seems to understand, not asking him to say more.

She holds the mug in her hands up, offering it to him. "Something to warm you up?"

He looks down at the mug, watches the steam rising in misty wisps, and then looks down at Marinette, shaking slightly in the cold, even in her sweater, and he shakes his head.

"I couldn't take the warmth away from you, Princess," he replies, already backing away. She watches him go, brow still furrowed, and he wishes he could do something other than cause trouble for others. "I'll let you return to your night."

She stares at him as if trying to understand what is happening, but he's running away into the night before she can understand whatever that moment was.

* * *

He comes back a few days later. To apologize, he tells himself, but another part says he's lying. When he arrives, Marinette is already sitting by herself, staring up at the sky. The stars were impossible to see in the city, but she looked as if she wasn't seeing anything past her thoughts, so it didn't matter. He lands lightly on the roof, and whatever plans he had for this visit are dashed as she looks over and her face lights up. There's surprise there, but it's mostly eclipsed by her smile. She always smiled as if she had no control over her face, maybe a little too big and nothing at all like Adrien's practiced smiles, but he realizes now that they are the best smiles he's ever seen.

"Chat, I didn't think you'd come back," she says, already standing and making her way over to him, mug in hand. She's just in her pajamas tonight, wrapped in a blanket and looking positively at ease. He's about to reply but she's offering him the mug again, and he frowns just a little.

"Ah, didn't I already say I wouldn't take your warmth away?"

"It's okay, I have two," she replies and smiles again, pushing the mug into his hands.

"I thought you said you didn't think I'd come back," he replies, one eyebrow lifting. She laughs a little, slightly abashed but not nearly as shy as he's used to seeing her.

"I wanted to be prepared if you did… Warm drinks on cold nights make me feel better. Take it."

He takes the mug, and then she nods and goes back to her spot, picking up a second mug and snuggling into her blanket. He follows, not sure what he's doing, and not sure what she's doing, but he finds he wants to know more about Marinette and he knows it's not something he can do as Adrien, so he's really just taking the only opportunity he has. (Or that's what he rationalizes, later. He does it without thinking about anything except the warmth of the mug in his hands and the warmth in her smile, at the time.)

"I had started to feel kind of silly, bringing two mugs every night. But I'm glad I kept doing it," she admits, staring at her mug with a small smile. After she speaks, the smile falls away for something more contemplative, and she looks up at him, just for a second, before looking away again.

He doesn't know what it means, but he finds himself sitting by her side anyway. He quietly takes sips and dutifully ignores the small glances Marinette keeps giving him. He just sits and quietly finishes his drink, and reflects that this is the quietest he had ever been while Chat Noir, a thought that's reflected in Marinette's mind as well, though he doesn't know it. When he's done, he stands up, a frown on his face.

"I'm sorry," he says, and she looks up at him with a frown matching his own, but for different reasons.

"I… don't really get why you came the first time. And I don't know why you came back. But if you want to spend your night with a random civilian girl, you should know she's not going to stop you."

"You're not random," is all he can reply, and then they both end up confused. He sets the mug down and shakes his head, saluting and smiling as he leaves. She still looks troubled as he goes, but he doesn't know what to make of it.

* * *

He starts coming every night, falling into a routine. She's always waiting, always kind and accepting but confused and somehow troubled. He doesn't know when he starts talking, but once he starts he finds he can't stop. Their talks are full of flirting and joking and profound declarations of personal problems, and it all mixes together in a way that makes sense, somehow. His talk about his personal life is vague enough that she can't gleam who he is, but it's still deeply personal. Marinette is shocked at first, but she puts forth everything she can to support him, though she does pose a question one day.

"Why don't you talk to Ladybug about this?" She won't look at him as she asks, and he wonders if she's actually tired of hearing him talk. He had fallen into a space somewhere between Chat and Adrien with her, but in times of insecurity he still felt himself retreating into Chat again.

"How do you know I don't?" he asks, archly. She doesn't react right away, pulling her blanket around herself tighter.

"Do you?" she finally asks.

"Ah, is that a spark of jealousy I hear? Fear not, Princess, you are the only one who holds my deepest secrets." His voice is light, but it's true.

"But why find a girl you saved _once_ instead of your partner?" she demands. He sighs, because as easily as he found she could counter his flirting, he had learned that some moments she needed him to be serious.

"Ladybug is… Ladybug is like the sun. She shouldn't be bothered by the problems of mere mortals." He tries to make it sound less pathetic than it is. He fails.

"She cares about you, Chat," Marinette states, determined to prove something.

"I know," he replies sadly, but they both know what the words really mean. (It's not enough.)

She stares at him like her heart is breaking, and he tries to smile, but for all his practice, he can't force a smile onto his face, can't lie to her like that.

Marinette leans towards him, bringing him into a hug. As he lays his head on her chest, he hears her whisper "I'm sorry". (And though he can't imagine what she's apologizing for, he finds that things are a little more okay like this.)

* * *

After that night, she's more distant at first, looking at him with such a lost look on her face every time she thinks his head is turned that he considers stopping the visits completely. But she eventually comes to some decision, some realization, and then she's closer and happier than ever and he's glad, because he knows that he would never be able to stop himself from coming. He starts living for the smiles that greet him and the look in her eyes when he says something stupid, the exasperated fondness that penetrates him and sees everything and smiles anyway.

She laughs herself breathless over a simple joke, and he can't help but join in, her happiness igniting a warmth in his chest that he can't ignore. They laugh until they're both leaning on each other for support, heaving chests trying to catch their breath and faces much too close.

Adrien knows he shouldn't do it. Adrien knows that there will be consequences to this action and Adrien knows this is probably a bad idea but Adrien is not here on this rooftop, Chat is, and Chat is tired of staring up at the girl who hung the moon and wishing, and every fiber of his being is telling him to leave that behind and take the chance to do something with someone who is with him, on his level.

So he does. He leans forward and brushes his lips against Marinette's once, twice, slowly and sensually and sweetly. His hand cups her cheek and he rests his forehead against hers, eyes closed, waiting for the rejection he's used to receiving. (But not from Marinette, never from sweet, kind Marinette who stared at him like she could see into him and saw nothing but starlight. He thinks this rejection might hurt more, somehow.)

She stills beneath him but doesn't push him away, and when he opens his eyes he sees that hers are blown wide with surprise and awe and- and desire, maybe, but he can't read her nearly as well as he wants to and he doesn't want to push her any farther, so he smiles and starts to pull away.

She stops him with a hand on his waist, her eyes suddenly burning with a stubborn determination she usually kept buried until it built up and bubbled out, but now she's channeling it into her every movement, pulling him closer and pressing her lips to his for a fleeting moment, a question that he's happy to answer.

Relieved laughter rises in his chest and his hands are on her hips and his lips capture hers, pulling her closer and closer until he can't get any closer and then trying to move just an inch more. He can barely keep his lips on hers through his smiles and breathy laughter but he perseveres, feeling the smile on her lips as well. She responds eagerly, arms wrapping around his neck and hands slipping into his hair, and even once his laughter is passed she's making tiny breathy sounds every time their lips part that make him want to hear _more and more_ and in that moment he knows he's selfish and greedy and he finds that he can't care because he would face all the evil in the world to keep this moment alive.

She pulls back just a little, body still flush against his, face an alarming shade of red and biting a slightly swollen lip as she looks up at him, and while he knows she wants to say something he can't help but think that he wants to be the one biting that lip instead. Instead, he ducks his head and places a light kiss on her collarbone, and he can feel her entire body tense in anticipation. He grins against her skin and trails light kisses up her neck and along her jaw, never quite giving her the contact he can tell she is getting more and more restless for, judging by the muffled gasps every time he presses just a little firmer against her skin. When he finally reaches her cheek, it's warm and flushed, and he pulls back to look at her in all her glory. She's slightly disheveled and blushing deeply, and she is enchanting, everything about her glowing. Adrien thought Ladybug was as beautiful as the sun, but he could never look for too long. Marinette wasn't a sun, but she was a fire, burning steady and glowing and bringing warmth and brightness to everything around her. (And he found that while he loved the sunlight he needed the comfort of a home and hearth too, sometimes. He doesn't know when Marinette became home, but he knows it fits so well he wonders how he never saw it before.)

Her bright eyes are staring stubbornly off to the left, and he brings his right hand carefully up to her face, turning her head until he is face to face with her. She gasps quietly, seeing his expression, and stares up at him waiting for his next move, but he can't find it in himself to look away from her eyes, so he contents himself with staring at her.

She reaches up and kisses him just below the corner of his mouth, pulling back and smiling sadly and he's staring at her, confused but wanting that expression off of her face. She gently pulls his hand off of her, lacing their fingers, and holds them up, and he stares at their joined hands with a soft gaze for a moment before he realizes she's showing him his ring.

"I could stay," he whispers, offering her the world in those three words.

But she only squeezes his hand and rests her head against his chest, and he reacts without thinking, wrapping his arms around her and holding her like the most natural thing in the world.

"Not tonight," she replies, equally quiet, and he hears the rejection but when he looks down into her smiling face he sees the promise of a _Later_ that he's willing to pursue, so he allows her to finally step away. Her body separates from his except for their hands, and she gazes at them with a pensive expression before looking up at him and letting a smile light up her face like a sunrise, warm and colorful and breathtaking.

He doesn't stop himself, can't stop himself, from leaning forward and capturing those lips one last time, but it's soft and sweet and he's the first to pull away. He grins at her, squeezes her hand one last time before dropping it, and finally takes off, darting away into the night, happy to have the last word.

She watches him go, fingers lightly tracing her lips and face slowly returning to its natural shade. She wonders if this counts as cheating, to be doing this as Marinette, but finally satisfies herself with the quiet answer of not knowing. It was Chat, and she trusted him enough allow herself to not trust their situation. They'd work it out, eventually. They always did.

* * *

((Hey guys! Because I'm reposting my fics from other sites I should make a note that's not reflected here: I wrote this a while ago! Which means there are some facts which don't really fit with canon any more. Bear with me on those. I am aware they no longer fit, but I don't wanna rewrite it! So this just slides into canon divergence territory, and that's okay.))


	2. Chapter 2

When Chat comes back the next night, Marinette is in her usual spot, wrapped in a blanket and staring into the distance, smiling softly. He takes his place beside her, moving so quietly she doesn't seem to notice his presence. He takes advantage of the situation and leans close.

"Good evening, Marinette," he purrs softly, intimately, and her reaction is immediate. A blush covers her face and she turns to look at him, eyes wide and almost guilty, and then she immediately looks away, turning her entire body away from him.

"H-hello, Chat," she replies, and he doesn't miss the hitch in her breath, the too-high sound of her voice. She's embarrassed, and it's _adorable_. Adrien has seen this shy behavior before, and he had always wondered what could possibly be on the girl's mind. But the suddenly shy behavior in front of Chat has a clear cause and he can feel his grin growing.

"Is that all the greeting I get, after last night?" he asks, voice still low and in her ear. Her face somehow gets even more red, and she shakes her head vigorously, still not looking at him. It might be mean to tease, but this was a side that hadn't been available to Chat yet, and he so wants to take advantage of it.

"I-I don't have anything to d-d-drink tonight, sorry."

He pulls as close to her as possible, and he can feel her body tense next to his, but he doesn't stop there. He leans around her, bringing his hand up to turn her head slightly, making them face to face. Her eyes are captured in his for a moment, and then they flick down for a moment before meeting his gaze again. He doesn't miss the movement, his grin only growing more and more. "Maybe you have something sweeter for me, then?"

She squeaks and pulls the blanket up to cover her burning face, and while he wants to laugh at her reaction, he's sitting on the edge of the blanket and the sudden movement sends him toppling backwards. He's stunned silent for a moment, and in that moment Marinette peeks out of her cocoon and sees the damage she's done, and she's immediately dropping the blanket and rushing to his side.

"Oh god, I'm sorry-"

He has to hold in his laughter, seeing her hovering over him with concern, cheeks still blazing red. He schools his features into neutrality as Marinette continues her flustered rant above him, and he waits for the perfect moment. As she begins to slow down, he takes his chance and flips their position in one fluid movement. He lands with a knee on either side of Marinette, having entirely too much fun, and she stares up at him from her new position flat against the roof with an almost comical expression. He leans over her, bringing one finger up to her chin tapping underneath it. Her mouth closes quickly with a sharp clack, and then she covers her face with her hands. He stares down at her, wanting to appreciate that he could do this, that he could turn her into a blushing mess and he thinks he wants this forever.

"You were not this shy yesterday, my princess," he whispers in her ear, and she peeks up at him from behind her fingers.

"I… am not good at this," she whispers back, and her voice is shaking. He takes one of her hands and pulls it away from her face, laying a kiss in the middle of her palm before closing her fingers around it. She watches his movements carefully, but doesn't resist.

"Practice makes perfect," he replies with a practiced smile. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, and when she opens them there's the same stubborn determination he saw yesterday and though she's still blushing furiously, she reaches up and pulls him down to meet her lips in a kiss and he finds himself melting. For a moment, he's putty in her hands and she takes the initiative, sitting up and pulling him closer all at the same time. But the moment is broken as Marinette bubbles over with laughter, and he pulls back, looking down at the girl with confusion.

"I'm sorry-" she tries to say through her giggles, though she doesn't seem very sorry. "I just- this just- Could you let me up for a moment?" Adrien complies, thinking he'd do anything she asked if she kept smiling like that, moving backwards as she wiggles out from under him, still giggling. He stares at her dumbly and she sits up, chuckling to herself. She notices his stare and tries to get herself under control. "I was just- I was just suddenly reminded of another situation, and I… I'm sorry."

He blinks slowly at her, mind trying to process what she could possibly be talking about, but before he knows it she's in his lap, blinking up at him through her lashes, face flushed and lips parted slightly, and his mind stutters to a stop. Her hands wind around his neck, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck as she looks at him expectantly. But though her sudden giggle fit allowed Marinette to shed her awkwardness and shyness, the confidence it gave her must have broken Adrien, because all he can do is stare at her and drink in the image. She smirks at him, and leans in, kissing the tip of his nose.

But Adrien's brain must be malfunctioning, because he just blurts out, "Wait, so you've kissed someone before?"

Marinette tilts her head, confused for a moment before she realizes he's asking about her earlier giggling fit. She grins, looking close to breaking into laughter again. "Yes."

"And he was pinning you to the ground and you kissed him?"

Marinette can't help the giggle that escapes her, though Adrien can't for the life of him understand what's so funny about it.

"Is that a problem?"

"No! No, I mean, it's just… it's a surprise." He suddenly finds himself burning with curiosity as to who she could possibly have done that with. He's so busy mentally going through a list of everyone they knew that he misses the struggle on her face. He doesn't miss the sigh, though, and he looks back at her as she worries her lip, obviously troubled about something. "Marinette?" he asks, voice soft. She looks up at him, and he thinks that something in her gaze is guilty.

Her face passes through several expressions in a moment, and he can barely follow it. She eventually shrinks down a little, shaking her head. "No, it's nothing. I'm sorry."

For a moment he wonders if she was going to reject him, push him away and say this was a mistake, but he pushes that away to confront the more important problem at the moment. Marinette is frowning, and he had already decided that that was something he never wanted to see her doing again. So he finally moves his hands, which had been sitting uselessly at his sides, and brings them up to rub small circles on her back. The gentle caresses, rather than comfort her, seem to make her even more troubled, and he's at a loss. Marinette was an open book written in another language, and though he learned new words every day there were still some things he'd never understand without help. He drops his hands, resting them on her hips, and ventures to probe again. "Marinette?"

"What about Ladybug?" she asks, after a long silence, and something in the back of his head tells him that that wasn't quite what she wanted to ask. But he answers, as truthfully as he can, because he's told her enough about his unrequited love that he can't pretend it doesn't exist now.

"I love her." His answer is simple but so, so complicated, and he wishes he had other truths to give her. He offers up the next best thing. "But I'm here with you."

He helplessly hopes that what he's said is enough, helplessly pines to see her smile again, but she just nods thoughtfully and he can feel a little bit of him breaking. He doesn't want to do this to her but he can't see any way to fix it without leaving her alone and he's too far gone for that to even be an option. He finally just whispers out a small apology in another form: "Please smile, Marinette." His voice is pleading, and he knows it's a selfish request but she looks at him with such surprise that he's relieved that at least the furrow between her brows is smoothed out.

She quickly recovers, pulling him to her for a short kiss, and then whispering against his lips, "It's not your fault, this is me, I'm sorry," with such fervor that he almost believes it. But he knows that it can't be true, and when she pulls back to offer him a shaky smile, he feels such a heat in his chest that he abandons words, surging forwards and taking her lips as his. He kisses her deeply and passionately, trying to convey everything through actions and she responds in kind. His hands roam her body, gentle caresses that act as every apology he can't give her and are a stark contrast to the energetic movements of his lips. Her legs wrap around his waist and he allows himself to drown in her, her taste and smell and the feel of her body pressing against him, and they silently agree to leave the previous conversation behind. For another time, maybe, but now they would enjoy their time together.

Their limited time together, a small beep reminds him. She pulls back, panting, and he's once again hit with how beautiful she is, glowing and in a state that he knows he put her in. He leans forwards, nuzzling the crook of her neck, and she massages her hands into his shoulders, trailing down his back and he wants to stay here forever, but she finally pushes him away.

"You should go," she says, and he hates those words almost as much as he hates her frown.

"I don't have to," he reminds her, and she bites her lip, obviously considering it. But she shakes her head again.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" she asks, and he feels the bitter cold of loneliness already threatening him but the warmth of her gaze keeps him from freezing over completely.

"...I would never leave a lady waiting," he replies, but the usual flirtatious bite just isn't there. He turns to go before he loses the chance to. He may not understand why she didn't want to know, but he would do what she asked. (He would do a lot of things for her, and the thought should probably scare him, but it only settles in quietly and contentedly among his thoughts about her.)

* * *

He hears the yelling before he sees anything, but he's immediately running out of the classroom. The rest of the class follows him, naturally, and he finds a chance to slip away in the chaos. As the yelling is muffled by a closed door, he transforms and slips out of the classroom, running towards the commotion. The school get quieter and quieter as he runs towards where he initially heard the yells, and he soon realizes that he can't hear any more voices. But he can hear the crashing of something heavy being toppled, and he runs to the library. He sees a group of students huddled in the corner, being lectured by the librarian- or, whoever used to be the librarian- as she builds a prison out of books. He rushes towards the group, and they open their mouths to call out to him, but no sound comes out.

"Ah? Cat got your tongue?" he asks the group, and many mouths open with responses, but they still produce no sound. The shrieking of the librarian behind him is the only thing that tells him to jump out of the way as a bookshelf is hurtled towards him. It misses him and hits the wall of books, toppling it over and allowing the students to escape. They scramble away, pushing their way out of the library right as Ladybug swings into it. (The sight of her makes his heart speed up, but it's not nearly as pleasant as it used to be. He wonders why.)

"Good afternoon, my lady," Chat greets, and he sees something change in her face, but doesn't have time to examine it as the librarian comes charging at him.

"DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO SHUT UP?" she shrieks into a megaphone, and Chat is blown back by the sound waves. As he picks himself up, he sees Ladybug come swinging to stand beside him.

"I don't think the akuma is in the megaphone," is all she says, and he nods. This was probably not the best time to talk, though something in his brain reminds him that they never had any other times.

"Try coming from both sides?" he suggests, and she nods, jumping off to the left. He runs to the right, and then jumps up and pushes off of a bookcase into the air.

"Hey you!" he shouts, and the librarian flinches and turns to him, growling.

"WHAT DID I SAY?" she shouts back, and Chat finds himself soaring in the other direction once again. But he's prepared for it this time, and he catches himself in a roll. As he looks up, Ladybug tackles the librarian, and he thinks that this fight was too easy.

But of course that can't be true, and the librarian shakes her off too easily, covering her in a mountain of books. The librarian then darts out the door, and Chat rushes towards the pile where Ladybug used to be.

"Ladybug?" he calls, frantically, and he hears a voice, though it's muffled.

"I'm in here. Probably fine, but if I move I'm going to be covered in papercuts." She sounds annoyed, even through the piles of paper, and he immediately starts digging through the mountain to find her.

It's silent for a few moments, and Chat realizes that if he wants to say something, he needs to say it now. "Since I have you here, Ladybug, shall we have a chat?"

He can practically hear her eyeroll at his lighthearted voice, but she just responds, "What do you need, kitty?"

Adrien gulps, but he continues on. "I love you, Ladybug." The words he had been trying to say since he had met her, and yet he felt no relief in finally saying them. He can't see her reaction, and so he continues on carefully even as he rifles through the books. "I will always love you, my lady."

He hears a small voice whisper "Chat…" and though the sound of it is so sad it's heartbreaking, he only focuses on the fact that he can hear her. He moves faster, sure he's closer to her now.

"But I'm afraid I will have to break my past promises. I love someone else, as well. Your faithful servant has not stayed so faithful after all." He finishes his sentence right as he pulls her out of the pile, and he turns to run, his partner finally free. He misses her wide eyes and her breathless "What?" as he heads for the door, too entrenched in his own bittersweet feelings of relief and loss. He turns only to make sure she's following, and then they're both out the door to find the librarian. She's not far, and they stop to watch her from a safe distance for a moment.

"Wait, Chat! What?" she asks, staring at him with confusion. He turns to look at her, confused at her confusion, but the question draws the attention of the librarian, and they both have to dodge out of the way of a sound shockwave. But Ladybug is running to join him again, something urgent on her mind.

"Did you say _love_?" she asks, finally catching up to him only to have to jump away as individual books are shot towards them like projectiles.

He doesn't know what's going on, but he calls back, "Yes, I said I loved you." He realizes the problem of tense only after he says it, and he finds himself wondering. The librarian flinches as he yells, and she glares at him.

Ladybug just shakes her head. "No, did you say you _loved_ someone else?" she yells across the room, and the librarian flinches and goes after her this time.

Chat doesn't understand the line of questioning. The thought of his lady being jealous floats into his head, but he feels no satisfaction from it. Only a slight concern. "I guess I did say that…" he replies, much quieter. But still not quiet enough for the librarian apparently, because she screeches into her megaphone again.

"STOP TALKING!" she says as she flings another bookcase out of nowhere at Ladybug, who's trying to get to Chat.

"Do you even know this girl that well? I- I mean, are you sure you meant _love_?" she yells, completely ignoring the akuma victim and dodging the attacks like second nature. The librarian shrinks back again.

Chat feels an anger rising in him at her words, but he quickly pushes it away. Still, he can't ignore the niggling feeling that her reaction had to be jealousy, and the idea of Ladybug returning his feelings comes unbidden into his head. But he finds the floaty, ecstatic happiness he expected to feel is nowhere to be seen, and as he thinks about why, the image of Marinette flashes before him, glowing and smiling and he remembers the warm, content feeling that he felt with her, and it may not be the high thrill of intense love but he had come to love it so much more than that. And so he knows the answer to Ladybug's question.

(It was yes. Of course it was yes.)

He doesn't give his answer, and instead just yells "This is not the time!"

But the answer seems to come across to the girl, because she simply whispers "Oh my god…" She shakes her head, and shouts "Lucky Charm!" as she summons whatever is needed to end the battle.

"Chat! Catch!" is all he hears before he sees something being thrown through the air like a frisbee at him. He leaps up and catches it, and he finds that it's not a frisbee but a trashcan lid.

"She's weak to noise. Make as much as you can!" Ladybug commands, and Chat finds himself surprised that she had noticed that, since she had seemed so out of the battle. But Ladybug was amazing, as always, he notes wryly, before bringing out his baton and beating it against the lid.

"Hey hey hey! You're an annoying old lady, you know that?" he calls over the din of his beating, and the librarian does seem to be having a hard time turning to face him.

"S-S-S-STOP THAT!" she yells, but every beat of his baton against the metal of the lid had caused her to stutter, so he only increases the chaos. He sets off running, shouting "Cataclysm!" as he does, and then begins to topple everything in his path, the crashing of the objects around him and the noise of the trashcan lid all effectively paralyzing the librarian.

Ladybug sneaks up around her, grabbing the glasses right off her face and snapping them, releasing a black butterfly. She purifies it and resets the scene with her purifying light, and Chat finds himself watching all of this as if it were the last time. It's not, he knows, but something was going to change. He stares into the sun, knowing it's his last chance before its light is gone for him forever, and as they bump fists and chorus "Mission accomplished!" he feels the end of something big.

Ladybug, out of the heat of battle, seems to remember their conversation from earlier, and finds herself blushing as she looks at him. "Well! I have to leave now! Goodbye!" she says, much too loudly, but Chat barely even notices because he's already thinking about tonight. He'll see Marinette in just a few minutes, he knows, but he won't be able to touch her, to talk to her, not really, and he's already decided to fix that. (He doesn't know how he ever thought he'd be okay with only having Marinette at night. He wanted her all the time, during class and after school and on the roof at night, he wanted her when they were alone and he wanted to show her off to the world, and he's in _deep_ , but that's okay, because Marinette was there with him.)

* * *

He lands on her roof with an electric energy coursing through his body, and he's so full of thoughts of her that he can't see the her in front of him, who's jumpier and guiltier than ever. "Marinette, I need to tell you something," he starts, and she shakes her head, approaching him.

"No, I need to tell you something first," she replies, and she looks so stricken and concerned that he's thrown for a loop, but not completely off track.

"Marinette, please, this is important."

"Chat, listen-"

Both stop, staring at each other, and then both try to start again.

"I'm-" they say together, and then fall silent. Marinette finally seems to lose her patience, and she presses her hands against his mouth.

"Chat. Please," is all she says, and he gives in. (Of course he gives in, he couldn't do anything but that.) He presses a kiss to her palm, before pulling it off of his mouth, but he stays dutifully silent. He wants to tell her, he wants to say it, but she was asking for his patience, so he gives it to her.

She pulls her hands back to her chest, fidgeting slightly as she stares at the ground. "I first want to say that I'm sorry that I never said it before but I wasn't sure how to mention it or if it would change something or ruin everything and so I just didn't say anything but then everything got complicated and I wanted to tell you but I still didn't because I was scared I guess but then you told me but not me that you loved me, like me me, and I knew I had to tell you and that frankly I should have already told you but like I said I guess I was just scared but I need to tell you now that I'm Ladybug?"

Adrien sorts through the spew of words, trying to parse the important information out of her nervous rant, and he's so stuck on the "you told me you loved me" that he almost misses the actual confession. But though he hears the words, they don't process and he's left staring down into Marinette's face which is smiling sheepishly and looking like every second he stayed silent was painful for her. He blinks, tilts his head, and blinks again.

What?

Wait.

 _What?_

"You're Ladybug?" he asks, dumbfounded.

Her hands splay out into lackluster jazz hands, framing her face. "Surprise?" she offers with a tiny, pained smile, and Adrien's mind finally seems to catch up to the current moment.

" _You're Ladybug_?" he repeats, louder, and she drops her hands and her eyes. His eyes go straight to her earrings, and he tries to recall a time when she hadn't been wearing them. He can't come up with any, and he wonders how he had never reconciled the two girls he loved. He still can't, not quite, but the blurry picture is slowly coming into focus.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know what to do when you showed up on my roof but you told me things you said you could never say to Ladybug and I thought I was just caring for my partner but then it wasn't _just_ caring for my partner and then you kissed me and I thought 'Oh, this is definitely not just what you feel for a partner' but then you told me, Ladybug me, that you were giving up on me because you loved me-"

He starts off with a small stream of laughter that soon becomes a flood. He had come to the realization that he loved her because he thought she loved him and he realized he didn't love her more than her. This was beyond ridiculous. Through his hysterics he hears that she's finally stopped talking, and he calms himself down. He places a hand on her shoulder. "You ramble when you're nervous," he observes, and she huffs.

"No kidding," she mumbles.

"All that time and I thought you were just jealous," he says with another laugh escaping, his hand slowly traveling down her arm. She shivers slightly, and then joins in his laughter.

"I kind of was? But of myself?"

His hand reaches hers and he grabs it, intertwining their fingers and planning on never letting go. "And I fell in love with you twice."

She looks up at him with a smile as radiant as the sun, and he wonders how he never saw her as Ladybug before. "So you're not mad?"

"Not a bit," he replies before dipping his head and placing a kiss on her nose. Her eyes cross trying to watch him and he feels another surge of affection. He's not sure he would ever be able to stay mad at this girl.

"Me, too. I mean, I think I also love you? Well, probably, we're still young so who knows, but I tried not to love you and I ended up here anyway, so…" she trails off, sighing and pouting, and he laughs at her awkwardness. He felt it too, heavy in the air, but he was sure it would dissipate eventually.

"Marinette? Can I tell you who I am now?" he asks hopefully. She nods, and he releases his transformation in a flash of light, and then he's standing before her in all his Adrien glory. She stares at him for a few moments, and then she drops his hands and bolts to the other side of the roof.

He's frozen in surprise for a moment, and he shares a look with Plagg, who then shrugs and lazily floats off. But Adrien has already decided he's not letting this girl go, so he quickly runs to her. She's not that far away, and the space is relatively small, but she's in the corner with hands clutching her head and he wonders what could be so terrible about himself that made her want to run.

"Marinette?" he asks quietly, heart thudding at the thought that she was rejecting him. He didn't want her light to leave his life.

"No, I spent days and nights thinking about you! I had _revelations_ because of you! I let you go, you can't just be the same person, that's not fair!" she yells, turning to him. Her eyes are wide and panicked, but as he approaches she makes no move to run again, so he keeps getting closer. "I tried so hard not to love you because I was in love with you! How does that make sense? I just got over you, you're not allowed to be him." He can't really make sense of her words, but he hears no rejection, so he just reaches down, taking her hands in his. She keeps up her stream of exclamations, and he quietly looks down into her face, eyes tracing the confused shape of her brow, the shape of her slightly curved down lips as they moved. He smiles and she finally stutters to a stop.

"Marinette?"

"Yes?"

"Can I kiss you?"

She looks more upset for a moment, muttering "This is not fair," once more, and then she's grabbing him and pulling him towards her and he still has no idea what goes on in her head but the moment his lips meet hers he finds he doesn't need to know, not yet. As he wraps her in his arms, he knows that he has plenty of time to learn.


End file.
